In Burnaby-Lougheed, one factor in this year’s election is not so much who’s running, but who’s not.

Liberal incumbent Harry Bloy is calling it quits after resigning from cabinet last year, meaning the swing riding in an area that’s historically NDP could be up for grabs.

And the 2009 election was close: Bloy took 48.4 per cent of the vote to the NDP’s 44.8 per cent in the riding, which was created in 2008 as part of the provincial boundary redistribution.

The Liberals have made some missteps, including the issue of replacing Burnaby Hospital, which has not played well in the riding.

Bloy’s consultation committee on Burnaby Hospital came under fire when leaked documents showed that a trio of B.C. Liberal operatives worked behind the scenes in hopes of using the aging hospital as a political wedge issue.

Another issue that resonates is the proposed twinning of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline, which runs through the riding. Many residents were traumatized by the existing pipeline’s rupture six years ago, when 250,000 litres of crude leaked into the community after a road crew’s excavator hit the pipeline.

The cleanup cost roughly $15 million and 250 residents were evacuated. NDP leader Adrian Dix’s opposition to twinning the pipeline could work in NDP candidate Jane Shin’s favour.

But Shin — a medical educator at Vancouver Community College — also got some unwanted attention this week when it was revealed she made a derogatory comment against Chinese-Canadians on a website in 2002. Shin was 21 at the time and promptly apologized. About one in five riding residents speak Chinese at home.

The other candidates are Liberal Ken Kramer, the founder and CEO of KMK Law Corporation; Green candidate Darwin Burns, a lab technician with ALS Environmental; and Christine Clarke, the director of the Canadian Skin Patient Alliance and president of the Canadian Association of Psoriasis Patients.

Clarke is listed as an independent because the Conservative party failed to file the proper paperwork for her candidacy by the nomination deadline.

“I think (the Kinder Morgan proposal) is a very important issue,” said Mary Hatch, a member of Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion, whose house was covered with oil when the existing pipeline burst.

“I realize we need oil, but we’re concerned about the pipeline, if twinned. There’s a number of schools in the riding that would be adversely affected and there’s an increased danger of a spill, leak or rupture near these schools.

“I think that as people understand the issue, hopefully they’ll support the NDP.”

For his part, Kramer believes the central issue is employment.

“The issue of jobs and the economy is the most important thing,” said Kramer, who added that he doesn’t believe Bloy’s decision to step down will affect the vote. “He definitely left a legacy and people are really positive as to what he’s done.”

Echoing his party’s position, Kramer — who said it’s important to strike a balance between economic development and environmental issues — said that five specific conditions are needed before the twinning is allowed, including the successful completion of the formal environmental review processes.

Clarke, a fiscal conservative, said a central issue is the loss of jobs. “The other (problem) is the provincial debt.”

Clarke supports the pipeline twinning proposal. She said the Liberals paid “lip service” to the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment project and noted that “politics has come into play” since.

Burns said that renewing the electorate’s faith in the political process is paramount.

“My biggest concern is the political system itself, as it’s run today with the whips having such control. It doesn’t allow the MLA to represent their constituents as they should.”

Shin, who was not available for an interview, said in a written response to The Vancouver Sun that British Columbians want a government that invests in skills training and health care.

“I’ve spoken to students at Simon Fraser University and elsewhere about the B.C. NDP’s plan for $100 million in needs-based grants, and this is the kind of support that really resonates with them,” she said.

She said Burnaby-Lougheed families also appreciate Dix’s vision to improve home support and community care, and increase access to mental health and addiction services.

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